


Brave v. Strong

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Can d e f i n i t e l y be seen as pre-ship with the right goggles on, Conversations, Gen, Magic, POV Third Person, Present Tense, Shadow Realm, The Author Regrets Nothing, Wordcount: 500-1.000, post S1, spoilers for The Shadow War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-03 04:51:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15811731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: Lena and Webby talk some things out post-Shadow War. What does it really mean to be brave? To be strong?





	Brave v. Strong

“Why did you do it?”

They’re sitting in Lena’s old room, leaning up against one another. Despite the way she looks, the shadow of Lena is surprisingly warm and much more comfortable to lie against than she looks. She’s just as warm as her personality, Webby finds herself thinking fondly.

“What?” Lena sounds relaxed. It brings Webby great pride to note it. The word is more intoned than actually spoken, and Lena shifts against Webby, settling more heavily against her back. Webby nudges her gently.

“When we fought your— When we fought Magica de Spell.” She wasn’t Lena’s aunt, not truly. Especially not anymore. “I mean, I know _why_ you did it, but… You didn’t know if you’d come back or not.” Webby idly flips the page in the spellbook she’d managed to filch from one of Scrooge’s hidden troves in the other bin. “You were so _brave.”_

“Webby…” The relaxed note is gone, and although Lena hasn’t pulled away, her shoulders are tense. “I wasn’t brave. I was trying to right the wrongs I had created. Aunt Magica coming back was my fault.”

“But—“

“No.” Lena shakes her head, and Webby puts a sock in her protestation for the moment. “If I had stood up to her before, she wouldn’t have been able to hurt you or your family.” A glowing warmth bubbles in Webby’s chest at reminder that she‘s a part of a  _family._ “I had to do something. It was my turn to be the strong one, but there’s a difference between being brave and being strong.”

“You’ve always been strong,” Webby states confidently, factually, ignoring for the moment the fact that she can’t actually see a difference between the two states of being at all. Lena huffs out a puff of breath that Webby isn’t even sure she needs. “ _Really._ There aren’t many people who could have stood up to Magica de Spell for as long as you did! Even Scrooge himself had a hard time beating her whenever they fought!” Webby resists the urge to cite specific encounters. “But you did it. _And_ you survived,” she adds, because that right there is the most important part.

“Sorta,” Lena mutters darkly, and Webby nudges her again.

“Hey. Don’t give up. We’ll find a way to get you back out of the weird shadow-place.” When Lena doesn’t seem convinced, her shoulders rising in a shrug and then falling in obvious discomfort, it sets Webby in motion again. She picks up the book, wiggles it towards Lena behind her, and then sets it in her own lap again. “We’ll find an answer,” she insists.

“How are you always so optimistic?” Lena asks. Webby finally grins.

“I like to see the glass half-full. That is, when there’s a glass at all. Sometimes, there’s just a shiny magic bracelet and my best friend in the whole world reading really cool magic books with me all day.”

Lena doesn’t respond aloud, but Webby feels her relax again as they both settle back into the rhythm of turning page after page in book after book in search of a solution to what Webby is certain is just a temporary problem.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in about fifteen minutes before bed lmao. The first sentence wouldn’t leave my head until I shoved it out on paper. I start classes tomorrow. I’m going to die. 
> 
> Anyways. Kudos/comments are love!! Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans


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